Schumann - Traumeri

Quote from: faj on December 21, 2006, 03:29:11 AM

I personally quite happy with this recording, but still want to hear any advice/ comments .

Best Regards,
Faj

I agree. Excellent playing. The voices are very clear, and the lines are very good. I think your teacher certainly knows what he or she is doing.

There are some minor technical things :-
Ornament for the romantic period are nomally done before the beat, as opposed to on the beat for classical pieces. You've chosen to do them on the beat, but i think you should also try it before the beat if you have not (which i find more difficult), and decide in the end what you want, if you have not already done so.

As I said, it is voiced excellently. Especially things like the third variation where you can hear the line moving from one hand to the other (not that you can hear which hand is playing which is good). The forth variation before the return to the original theme you play louder, which is the correct. I would have played the third variation very much softer -- introverted and crescendo into forte for the forth variation. To me the forth one is the most important of all the variations, the third one is the most interesting.

I agree also with what amitmis says about the rubato. Sometimes it sounds like like some notes are paired up. Whereas what you need is a line through the whole thing. Long long lines with in the small pharses are very important as you know.

There are the more iffy things that may be because of my lousy speakers.
1. I would do more dynamics in the pharsing which you already naturally do, but just be slighly more bold about it, so that the expression is very clear.

2. I think you can work a bit more on the touch (like i said maybe it's the speakers). you need to keep the voice, but the touch needs to be very light and singing -- slightly floaty. You do this in the very last variation (the return), and it sounds excellent there. I think you can do this for the whole piece to give it a more etheral quality. There the voice is still clear and that is crucial.

3. The last thing you need to think about, after you choose to do any of these things, or even if you don't is you need to tell the story convincingly. You play well very very well, but if you hear horowitz play this you will understand -- it sounds like you can hear his soul in every single note. I suppose I think it's possible for you to sound like horowitz! For this, it's an amalgamation all the technique put in, that is so strong that you can forget about it and just concentrate on telling the story.

Ok... well done. it's clear that you love this piece as much as i do. Hope some of these things are helpful.